The Cabin: We tried epic pancake challenge which Giant from Gladiators completed at Sheffield cafe

Giant from the Gladiators is one of the few people to have conquered it.

We're not talking about a superhuman show of strength on the BBC show everyone's watching but an epic eating challenge at a waffle and pancake house in Sheffield city centre, a few miles from where the new series was filmed at Utilita Arena Sheffield.

Jamie Christian-Johal, to give him his real name, took on The Cabin's pancake challenge a few years back, before being selected as a Gladiator. But he was already a renowned bodybuilder, standing 6ft 5ins tall, weighing 20 stone and eating a whopping 10,000 calories a day to maintain his strapping physique.

I may only be giving up a couple of inches on the height front but my wiry frame is no match for his mighty bulk so I don't know what I was thinking when I volunteered to take on the same pancake challenge he is one of the few people to have overcome.

Diners get 30 minutes in which to polish off 12 pancakes, or six waffles, plus three double-toppings of your choice.

Clean your plate and you get the lot for free and are added to the wall of fame, but fail to finish and you'll pay £27.95 and get your mugshot pinned to the wall of shame - though you do get to take the leftovers home in a doggy bag.

Wall of fame is small but surprising

I'm given some encouragement when Jordan Lonchar, co-owner of the popular family restaurant on Fitzwilliam Gate, near the bottom of The Moor, shows me the walls of shame and fame.

The latter may be considerably smaller than the former but it's not populated by the kind of hulking, big-bellied figures you might expect - one was just 5ft2ins, Jordan explains, adding 'we don't know where she put it'.

He advises me to opt for the lighter toppings, so I choose the strawberries and blueberries, along with whipped cream, which is perhaps a mistake.

But when the plate arrives any optimism I had soon vanishes. The pancakes - light, fluffy and delicious as they turn out to be - are enormous and stacked so high I struggle to see over the top, while there's so much cream it's already trying to escape from the plate.

I set the timer on my phone in an attempt to pace myself but it's soon clear I'm destined for the wall of shame.

Reaching for the maple syrup as failure looms

The first pancake slides down easily enough but by the time I finish the second 10 minutes are already up and, to use marathon running parlance, I'm close to hitting the 'wall'.

I struggle on but I've already downgraded my ambition from completing the challenge to finishing a respectable six of the 12 pancakes.

I never thought eating pancakes could be so painful but I power on bravely, ignoring my groaning stomach's complaints at the punishment I'm putting it through.

Until now I've avoided reaching for the maple syrup so temptingly placed in front of me, not waiting to add any unnecessary calories. But halfway through my fourth pancake I buckle, convincing myself the extra lubrication might help me force down a few more mouthfuls.

It doesn't and by the time my 30 minutes are up I've finished a measly four-and-a-half pancakes.

What are The Cabin's tips for taking on its eating challenge?

Jordan kindly assures me they've seen worse but I'm not convinced and I fear they'll have to create a new wall of extra shame to accommodate me.

Too late, I ask his advice for anyone else taking on the challenge. He tells me you need to drink lots of water, exercise before you eat to build up an appetite and break your food up into small pieces. Most people who have completed the challenge, he adds, did so using their hands rather than a knife and fork.

Demoralised and full to bursting, I leave with my doggy bag of shame feeling I never want to look at another pancake again.

But I'm sure the feeling will pass and when it does I can return to The Cabin, where Giant took his fellow Gladiators during a break in filming last summer, to enjoy their Canadian-style hospitality and cuisine in more relaxed style.